Posted on 11/07/2013 2:36:09 PM PST by bkopto
I am a retired Detroit Police Officer and this is my story. I hope this will not happen to you.
I joined the Detroit Police Department in 1986. At that time the city had an agreement with the federal government that made Detroit Police officers ineligible for social security and Medicare. We were led to believe that this was to our benefit. We were told that we would be taken care of upon retirement with a pension and health care.
Today, this is no longer true. Because of the bankruptcy filing by the city of Detroit, the Emergency Manager has stripped me and my fellow officers of our health-care coverage and is trying to void our pension income.
I spent more than 23 years with the Detroit Police Department as a patrol officer. I patrolled the streets of Detroit. I answered calls for service. I did not have an administrative job, nor was I an executive. I have seen some really horrific scenes and fought against the worst violent acts that most people cannot even imagine.
I have uncovered babies from shallow graves, responded to domestic-violence incidents, armed robberries, and murder scenes. I have discovered heads blown off, double ax murders, and mummified bodies in abandoned buildings.
I have saved people from being killed. I have found lost children and returned missing relatives to safety when they wandered, were carjacked, or were taken away by force. And I have come into your home or the home of someone you know when help, safety, and security were needed to help the citizens of Detroit.
I have lost more friends in the line of duty than anyone should.
I have been shot at more times than you can count; and
I have been run over.
I loved my job.
In 1996, I was on my way back to the First Precinct after patrolling the streets. I proceeded through a green light near the precinct and was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light. I do not remember much about the accident because I was in a coma for six days. I had a very serious head injury. I was off work for nearly one year, then on restricted duty for two years.
I had to learn to eat and swallow again.
My head injury caused memory issues, which I have to this day.
I did not take a duty or medical retirement at the advice of my union. They told me not to worry---the retirement insurance coverage would take care of me. But that’s not true anymore.
I do not think I am special, nor do I think I am unique. I am like every other patrol officer in any other city. I worked hard. I earned everything I have. I do not want anyone to “give” me anything.
I do want what I earned --- my health-care coverage and pension.
Thank you for listening. I hope you do not experience the same treatment.
Sorry friend, no sympathy here.
You believed a fairy tale.
You voted for the criminal, lying union backed politicians that promised you somethig they could not deliver.
Your actions helped destroy a city
Similar actions are causing the destruction of the country.
Unions are a cancer that need to be cut out of the civic body.
I hope evryone sees you as an example of what NOT to do and how to NOT live a life.
I will pray for you and wish you joy.
But sympathy, never.
“Who amongst we non-police types will cast the first stone against what is legally coming to this ex-officer and his brethren?”
I will; you call it “legal”, but here in NJ these people have bankrupted those they purport to “serve” (and are vindictive as Hell if you question anything in their absurd compensation packages, or whether so many are even needed). I’ve seen parties for cops retiring at 45 (after 25 years on the job - they started before college requirements); how long do you think the average Joe will tolerate that? 99% of the cops in my town have never fired their gun on the job, and 100% have never been fired on - these are not cops in a war zone.
For every public retiree with a sob story you can find 100 foreclosed homes due to the prohibitive burdens these people place on taxpayers. If the municipality you sucked dry can no longer pay what they promised, take them to court; get out of my pockets. This guy never “served” or “protected” me; I owe him nothing.
I feel bad about his injury, but he shouldn't be using it as a prop for financial sympathy.
Your unions broke the bank.
You enjoyed it while the getting was good.
Now suffer the consequences like the rest of us.
I knew a woman whose husband took an early disability retirement from the NYC police force and moved to CA to take a job as a lobbyist for Inidan gambling. Within 3 years, they were very rich.
I feel sorry for the guy; but he needs to place the blame where it belongs. And that blame belongs with his union and the DEMOCRAT governments that have so mismanaged Detroit’s finances and promised more than the productive (i.e., creators of wealth) taxpayers could provide on a sustainable basis.
And if I did a google search I bet I would not find a single instance of this “poor soul” coming to the defense of the NON-UNION members of General Motors and affiliates who got screwed out of their pensions so the UAW union members could be protected. Sorry Mr. Lawrence, there will be many, many more state, local and (ultimately) federal government employees and retirees who will share in the suffering that the non-government workforce has been experiencing for years at the hands of our “progressive” overlords.
Welcome to the club Officer Lawrence, how does it feel?
But the vitriol against unions is stronger, I guess. And yeah, if a wounded vet lost his benefits, they'd be screaming about that, too. FR can be a strange place.
Most of the idiots on this thread think these guys just receive a pension without any contribution from them, not true, they pay a percentage of their check into a retirement fund and some is matched by the city.
If the fund is raided by the city management then the guy at least deserves his contribution.
Its fun to listen to guys who work in a cubicle typing on a computer all and day hating on guys who actually risk their lives daily. funny stuff.
I have to ask if you’d feel the same way about somethign similar happening to a wounded vet. Because, ya know, the federal gov’t ain’t exactly liquid.
Waaaaaaaaaaaa. This retired cop probably voted democrat all his life.
Detroit is what happens to a city run by rats for 50 years. Do what the rest
of us will have to do. Get a part time or full time job.
When the vets have a union extorting their demands get back to me. Otherwise it’s apples to oranges.
Part of the problem is PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS. The other part are the career politicians who first agree to exorbitant labor contracts in order to buy votes, and then UNDERFUND the pension funds to buy even more votes.
We need 2 things: 1. outlaw public employee unions and 2, pass term limits at every level—local, state and federal.
BOTH THINGS NEED TO BE DONE.
I doubt it. He thinks it’s Bush’s fault.
> I feel bad about his injury, but he shouldn’t be using it as a prop for financial sympathy.
I don’t think he was looking for sympathy; probably just venting out of frustation.
Um, I worked in Detroit for almost 20 years, and I have to agree with this guy, working in Detroit is like working in an occupied war zone. The DPD shrugged off SS and medicare for private pension and healthcare plans. This is just another breach of contract by a business entity (the city of Detroit), and it’s employees.
I find this very disturbing, because I work for a railroad, and the feds under paul ryan have been trying to confiscate the railroad retirement fund (a fund set up and fully funded by railroad employees before SS even existed), and will open the door for European style confiscation of ALL retirement funds. If the feds can violate contract law with impunity, then NONE of your retirement assets are safe.
Alternatively, he could get what our kids and their kids will get on SS... $0 a month.
I support the officer. Assuming his story is true. He was defrauded. He had a contract. They are not holding up their end.
Right on.
Wow what a story. Where can I send this clown my small violin?
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